Meet and Greet
by dare-to-do-our-duty
Summary: In which Daredevil receives an invitation for dinner at Avenger Tower. And Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock are invited also. And decisions must be made.
1. Meet and Greet

Foggy Nelson walked into the offices of Nelson and Murdock only to find the famous Pepper Potts sitting in front of the desk of his partner, chatting casually about the business. Matt looked up when Foggy closed the door behind him and waved him over.

"Miss Potts, this is my partner, Franklin Nelson." Foggy shook her hand and gave her a please-call-me-Foggy before bringing in another chair from his own office. "Miss Potts said she wanted to talk to us about a business opportunity?"

"Yes, well." Pepper pulled a file out of her bag. "It's less of a business opportunity and more of a... change of venue?"

Matt picked up the hints and put the situation together. "Stark Industries wants to hire us?"

"Stark Industries wants to bring you into the fold of SI lawyers."

Foggy almost dropped the cup of coffee he was handing Pepper. "They WHAT?" He sat heavily in the chair. "I'm sorry, I almost thought you just said that Stark Industries wanted us to join your lawyers."

"You would be correct, Mr Nelson." She smiled. "Thoughts?"

Matt braced himself, ready to have to argue Foggy down from joining the same type of company lawyers that they had left to make their own practice. But instead, Foggy leaned back in his chair and frowned. "You do know about Landman and Zack?"

Pepper nodded.

"She just nodded," Foggy said quietly in Matt's direction. "We left because they weren't doing what was right. Marshall, right, Matt?"

The corner of Matt's mouth quirked up in a grin. "'We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear…' Thurgood Marshall. They offered us a job after our internship, but… they were doing it for the money, not for the people. They didn't care about the little guy, the people on the streets."

Pepper laughed lightly. "I think you need to have a conversation with Cap sometime, Mr Murdock."

"Wait." Foggy held up a hand like he was in school. "Cap as in Captain America?"

The CEO smiled but ignored the question and stood, scooping up her bag. "I understand. You don't even have to tell me no. And if I ever need a lawyer, I know where I'm coming."

The door clicked shut behind her, and Matt started to laugh; Foggy's heart was beating like he just ran several miles.

"Don't get any ideas, Nelson. She's steady with Stark, or so I hear."

A moment later, Karen walked in. "Excuse me, but did I just see Pepper Potts walk out of our building?

MDDM

The same night, Daredevil had a visitor down a dark alleyway. The instant he dropped down to land on the two men attacking the blonde jogger, the jogger reached out almost faster than Daredevil could follow and smashed the two men's heads together.

"Daredevil?"

"What do you want?" The tall blonde man raised his hands in a gesture of goodwill, despite the unconscious men at his feet.

"My name is Steve Rogers. I'm part of the team called the Avengers." The fact that he was Captain America went unsaid, but not unknown. Matt couldn't say he hadn't been expecting this. "I know you're probably not interested in working with us-" Daredevil made an affirmative sound. "- but we'd like to invite you to train. And to be part of the team on missions here in the greater New York area."

The bigger man didn't wait for a response. "Here's an invitation. Stark's having a dinner this Friday. Just the team (except Thor), Miss Potts, and you." He was holding something out; Daredevil extended a hand and let Rogers drop the business card-sized invitation onto it. He nodded his thanks and started walking towards a fire escape near the end of the alley. "Um…" there was an awkward note in Steve's voice. "Nobody will be in their uniform, but, um, if you want to be that's okay."

"I'll keep it in mind." Daredevil swung up onto the fire escape, feeling Steve's eyes on him until he was out of sight.

MDDM

Foggy walked into the office the next day to see honest-to-god Tony Stark sitting on Matt's desk. His best friend looked… bemused, but didn't comment. "Morning, Foggy. Mr Stark, Meet Mr Nelson. Foggy, Mr Stark wanted to try to talk us into coming to work for him, despite what we told Miss Potts."

"Um, wow. Okay. I mean, sorry." Foggy stuttered out. "Sorry, I'm just a big fan."

Stark smirked and hopped off of Matt's desk to hold out a hand to Foggy. "Nice to meet you."

Foggy shook his hand in awe. Matt's voice brought him out of his hero worship. "So, Mr Stark. Do you have anything to say that Miss Potts didn't already comment on?"

"Just one thing." Matt resisted the temptation to roll his eyes behind the red-tinted black glasses. "I'd like to extend an invitation to dinner at the Tower. Take you on a tour of our facilities." Tony reached into a pocket of his (ridiculously expensive, Matt could tell by the sound) suit and pulled out two cards. "One for each of you. Dinner is at seven, Friday. Dressy casual, be there or be square."

He popped up, gave an extravagant little bow, and walked by a shocked Karen and onto the street, climbing into an expensive car and pulling away.

Matt started to laugh. "Foggy, breathe." Foggy made a slightly strangled sound.

"That was… Tony Stark! Of Stark Industries! In our office!" He slumped into the chair next to Matt's desk. "How come none of the fantastic people never stay to talk to me for longer than five minutes?"

Mat grinned. "You've just been invited to dinner at Avenger Tower, Foggy. And guess who else is going to be there?"

Foggy's heart sped up; Matt fought to keep from laughing at the reaction. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the business card that Steve Rogers had given him, handing it to Foggy.

"This is addressed to Daredevil. Who gave you this?" Matt took a second to confirm that Karen had stepped out of the office.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was Captain America?"

"Bull. Shit." Foggy looked at Matt in awe. "There is no way."

Matt nodded. "Apparently, the law firm of Nelson and Murdock has been invited to a team dinner with the Avengers and Daredevil, who they are looking to recruit as a trainee and occasional team member. Because this will somehow convince them to join Stark Industries' fleet of lawyers."

Surprisingly, instead of getting on Matt's case about not calling him the moment he stopped talking to Captain America, Foggy started worrying. "So what are you going to do? Go as Murdock or as Daredevil? Because if you go as Daredevil, they'll know something is wrong because we both know I can't lie that well."

"And if I show up with the Murdock card, they're going to put it together when Daredevil doesn't do his-" Matt did a handwave that Foggy took to mean "vigilantism" "- thing that night."

"So… if they're going to find out either way that you're Daredevil- wait, do they know that Daredevil is _blind?_ " Foggy was sounding more incredulous by the second.

"No. I don't think so, at least not yet." Matt wrapped his fingers together, setting his chin on top of them.

There was a moment of silence.

"So who are you going as?"

"It's not a costume party, Foggy. I'm not 'going as' anyone." Matt grinned, holding out his hands for the two cards. "But maybe I could take both of my personas with me."

Slowly, a matching smile spread across Foggy's face. "This is going to be good."

MDDM

On Friday night at six forty-seven, Matthew Murdock and Foggy Nelson stepped into the elevator at Stark Industries. They were dressed nicely, both in the nicest jeans they owned, Foggy in shirtsleeves and a vest, Matt in a black polo that didn't hinder any of his movements, his messenger bag draped over his shoulder with both the "Man in the Mask" and the "Daredevil" costumes tucked inside.

"This is going to be great." Foggy voiced for the thirty-fourth time. Matt couldn't help but smile; his partner sounded like a kid at Christmas.

" _Excuse me, but would you be Misters Nelson and Murdock?"_ A distinctly British voice came from the corner of the elevator.

"That's us." Matt reached out with the hand not holding his cane and ran his hand over the floor buttons for the elevator. "There's not… Foggy, get us to the right floor."

" _I will be taking you up. Mr Stark is expecting your arrival,"_ the voice continued. " _I am JARVIS, Mr Stark's personal AI."_

"Well, um. Thank you, JARVIS." Foggy was fanboying already, Matt could tell. He smacked Foggy on the arm.

"Calm down."

"I'm calm! I'm calm!" Matt was cut off from replying by the sound of the elevator slowing.

"Are the cards in the right order?" He held them out and Foggy checked.

"You're good. Ready?"

Matt smirked and gestured him forwards when the elevator doors opened, lightly taking his elbow while he tried to figure out the new space.

Tony's voice echoed through the room. "Nelson and Murdock! Great to have you!"

"Yikes," Matt murmured.

"What?" Foggy asked, turning slightly towards him.

"Is the _entire_ room made of glass?"

Foggy took a second to look around. "Mostly, yeah. Why?"

"It's… really loud. And hard to focus on. It echos a lot."

"Huh, weird."

Matt huffed. "That's what you're going to say? Weird? Lot of help you are."

But by then Tony had arrived. "Invitations? This is a high class party."

"He's wearing jeans and a polo, Matt. Told you that you were okay." Matt heard Tony snort, the sound bouncing around. Foggy held out his card as Tony led them over towards the couches where the others were.

"Okay, everyone. These are the lawyers that we're trying to bring into the SI business. This," he read dramatically off the card, "is Mr Franklin "Foggy" Nelson." He frowned. "Did you really write "Foggy" in on my expensive, personally made card?"

To Foggy's credit, he didn't flinch. "I'm a lawyer, I like things to be accurate."

One of the men (Hawkeye?) stifled a laugh. Tony gestured Foggy to a couch and Matt followed at his elbow. "Two steps down, couch on the right." Foggy said. Matt could feel the interested eyes following as he tapped the steps once to determine the depth.

"Card, Murdock." This time, Matt really did roll his eyes, squeezing Foggy's elbow as the man shook with hidden laughter. He made a split second decision and handed over the first card, almost - almost - wishing he could see Stark's face. As it was, the suddenly increasing heart rate and breathing was worth it.

"This says 'Daredevil.'" All the movement in the room stopped, becoming frighteningly still except the sound of low chatter and breathing echoing off the walls.

"Oh, did I give you the wrong one? I meant to do the other one first." Matt handed Stark the second card, this one labeled "Matthew Murdock", his face completely straight. "Damn this whole 'blind' thing, makes it hard to read the cards."

Foggy lost it, shoving Matt sideways and doubling over with laughter. "Matt, I thought you were going to give him "you" card first before you whipped out the alter ego thing!" Matt stumbled sideways and hit the edge of the couch, almost falling over as he lost his balance. "Oh, shit!"

"Claire's out of town; if you make me pull my stitches again, she's going to be so mad. And she'll probably make you fix it."

"Noted." Foggy grabbed his arm and Matt straightened up, tightening his grip on his cane. He slipped around the arm of the couch, sitting neatly on the leather surface and ignoring how rough the textured edges were under his sensitive fingertips.

"Questions?" Matt asked the room at large, letting his face fall over the edges of where they all were sitting. He took the time to listen to them, feeling heartbeats (Rogers' was particularly loud. Hawkeye and Black Widow's were so slow as to be alarming, and Bruce Banner's was also surprisingly slow. Tony's was exact and perfect and slightly muted under the humming of the whatever it was in his chest).

"Um, yes?" Tony blurted out. "Excuse me? _You're_ Daredevil?"

Pepper seemed to be taking this all in stride; she handed Foggy a cup and set one on the glass coffee table in front of Matt. He picked it up carefully and took a sip, the cold water helping drown out some of the sounds and smells and tastes from all around him.

"I am."

"Sorry, but you're blind!" Tony blurted out.

"Oh, by the way," Foggy butted in, "Your elevator doesn't meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards."

"True," Matt agreed. "We could sue you for that. We are excellent lawyers."

"Stop!" Tony begged. "You're a blind lawyer vigilante?"

"And he's Catholic, if you want to make things even weirder," Foggy said.

Black Widow cut into the conversation. "How do you do it?"

"It's complicated, Miss…?"

"Romanoff. You can call me Natasha." If Matt didn't have exemplary hearing, he would have missed the small sound Foggy made at this but as it was, it just made him laugh.

"It only works if I concentrate. Sort of an impressionistic painting."

"He usually describes it as "a world on fire." This seems to be a step up." Foggy commented dryly.

"It's like that, no matter how weird. I have heightened senses, everything. Just no actual… sight."

Pepper neatly cut into the conversation. "As interesting as this is, it's time to eat." Matt stood, finding Foggy's elbow and following him to the table. Five of the six Avengers, Pepper, Foggy, and Matt sat, filling the table. Matt ran a finger over the edge.

"Stark, is there anything in this room besides the couches that is _not_ made of glass?" Stark did a double take, then shook his head.

"The bar is steel and glass. The fireplace is… something. Not sure what." Tony took a sip of wine.

Matt ghosted his fingers over the place settings, the locations of the glasses and dishes, mentally mapping their locations so he didn't have to focus so hard. They began to eat, chatting about Nelson and Murdock, about SI, and about the Avengers. Matt reassured a concerned Bruce about his stitches and that he did, in fact, have a good nurse who took care of it.

Ten minutes later, Hawkeye ("Call me Clint") broke. "Okay, I need a little more detail, Murdock. How do you do this without, you know, seeing?"

Matt smirked. "I use my ears. Everything else. Stark looked up the Murdock backstory, I'm sure. Actually, he probably remembers it happening. You're what, ten, fifteen years older than me? You would have been in your late teens, early twenties." There was a pause, as he considered this, then Matt continued. "When I was nine, there was an accident. I got hit by a truck."

"You pushed an old guy out of the way of a tanker of who-knows-what."

"Thank you, Foggy. Anyway, the chemicals spilled and it hurt like hell and I woke up blind in a hospital. But it sort of… enhanced the rest of my senses. So it makes up for it a little."

"How enhanced?" This time, it was Steve.

"Enhanced enough to know that you've showered twice today, but went for a run in between." Steve set down his fork. "I know that Clint is one hell of an archer because his fingers make a different sound on the table. I know that Natasha has at least six, possibly seven, knives on her right now because of the way the air moves around her."

Matt could feel Foggy smiling and the rest staring, although Pepper was smiling too, probably at the expression on Tony's face. "I know the whatever it is in Tony's chest has to do with his heartbeat and that Bruce spent time working with chemicals today. Something with phosphorous, even though he's washed his hands. I can tell that the wine you're drinking right now comes from a recycled bottle, not a new one and that whoever recycled it last did a poor job of sterilizing it."

Matt sat back and took a drink of water.

"Are you _sure_ you're blind?" Clint asked, a note of humor in his voice.

"What, the sunglasses indoors at night and the cane didn't give it away?" Matt replied.

They finished eating, chatting amicably. Stark stood and offered a tour of the tower. Matt and Foggy agreed and the rest of the Avengers came with them. It took nearly an hour, walking through labs filled with strange-sounding equipment, floors full of cubicles, and the law offices of Stark Industries. They were… classy. Full of shiny equipment and ergonomic chairs.

"So?" Tony spun around, arms outstretched. "Pretty nice, huh?"

"Pretty nice, Stark." Matt replied, looking in Foggy's direction. "What do you think?"

It was quiet. Matt hoped, he prayed, that Foggy would say no. But if he said yes, he would go with him, provided Karen could come too. They were friends. That's what they did.

"As nice as it is," Foggy started, and Matt swelled with hope. "I much prefer having a office with our own names on the door. And you now, helping the underdogs, the people of Hell's Kitchen."

Matt laughed and held out a hand to fist bump. "I knew I would sell you on Thurgood Marshall yet. Sorry, Stark. But we're out."

Tony huffed. "Fine. Nelson and Murdock out. Daredevil?"

"Is this the end of the tour?"

"No," Steve interjected. "It's just where I take over."

They were shepherded back into the elevator, Matt holding the cane upright to take up less room. The doors dinged open and they stepped out. "We're a floor above where we were eating." Foggy said to Matt.

Matt nodded, then turned to Steve. "Is that your shield? It has this sound…" He cocked his head to the side. "Very distinctive."

Steve tapped it with a finger, causing the vibranium to lightly sing under his hand.

Matt held out a hand. "May I?" Steve nodded, then caught himself and verbalized.

"Sure." He held it out and Matt leaned his cane against the nearby wall, hands flicking over the hard, smooth metal. He tapped it again, listening to the light hum it produced.

"Nice." The lawyer held out an arm and located Foggy's elbow and they went for a walk around the room, Matt listening to the air and noting the temperature and the pressure indicating very high security around most of the equipment.

They walked back to the floor they had eaten on and ended up lounging on the couches before Steve breached the question again. "So? Will Daredevil be joining the Avengers?"

Matt hesitated. "Maybe. I have some questions first."

"Shoot."

"When do I fight with them? And where? Because trust me, you don't want me trying to kill mutated bugs in Madagascar or anything. Actually, I don't really want to go anywhere outside the New York area."

"We'll limit your involvement to Hell's Kitchen, the greater Manhattan area, and dire emergencies. We also won't require you to fight during the day, if at all possible. You can also back out at any time, although please try to avoid us calling and you saying 'Hmmm, can't make it today.'" There was the scratch of pens as Steve and Foggy took notes. "Do you have a phone?"

Matt nodded. "A burner and a smartphone." He opened his bag and located both phones under the old Daredevil uniform, handing them to Natasha, who happened to be on the couch nearest him.

Foggy spoke up. "Don't use your superhero names; he uses audio assistance on the phone and it says your name when you call."

Steve wrote something else down. "Okay. We'll call you if we need you. What else?"

"Do I get paid? Food? Lodging? What if this interferes with my actual job? Because my livelihood and the livelihood of both my partner and our fantastic secretary are partially dependent on that." He stopped to consider. "And the people who we pay our law school loans to. They like us being on time." Foggy snickered.

"We can pay you. An hourly rate or a flat fee. Plus, you have access to food, housing, and medical care either here at the tower, at the mansion or wherever we are, and at the currently under construction training facility."

Matt smiled and poked Foggy. "Remind me to send them a sheet that has our fees on it." He turned back to Steve. "I'm sure we can work something else out based on that."

"Anything else?"

The Devil of Hell's Kitchen grinned. "We need a photo of us with the team for our secretary. She won't stop asking."

Clint laughed. "You drive a hard bargain."

"Good to know law school wasn't for nothing."

He could hear Foggy trying not to chuckle. "Yeah, the student loans wouldn't be worth it otherwise."

And an hour later, Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson left the building with two cell phones containing numbers for all the Avengers, a promise of a contract for Daredevil, and a signed photograph for Karen.

 **I binge-watched all of Daredevil. And loved it. There's just something about Matt that makes me want to give him a hug or smack him. It's so great.**

 **Anyway, I started of thinking of all these cool ways Matt and Co. could interact with the Avengers. And so now I have three or four Avengers/Daredevil things planned, but that meant that they had to first meet the Avengers.**

 **There's also plans for at least one straight up Daredevil fic. If you have ideas for any of these, please let me know! I will be posting them on both and on AO3 (for the first time!)**


	2. A Long Night

It had been a long night.

Natasha and Steve took out the last two of the offending robots simultaneously and there was a collective sound of relief as Tony announced that there were no more.

It took them a moment to regroup; Daredevil could tell that he, Steve, and Clint were all bleeding and that Tony probably had a concussion since he was much quieter than usual. Hulk had shrunken back into Bruce a few moments ago and was swaying where he stood.

"Right." Matt took a deep breath, analysing their surroundings. "Tony, we're just on the edges of Hell's Kitchen. Did you get the suit up and running again so we can call for our ride?"

There was a minimal movement; Matt waited.

"Oh. I just shook my head," Tony's voice sounded wobbly. "The suit's working enough for me to move, but not enough to get me back to the tower and not enough to call for anyone."

"Right." Matt repeated. There was a moment of awkward silence, then he sighed. "All right, boys and girl. Get your stuff around."

He turned his back on the shuffling group of superheroes and pulled the burner phone out of his pocket, hitting speed dial one. "Claire? Hey, it's me. No, I'm not dying." Matt took a second to evaluate that. "Well, I'm bleeding, but not badly. Just a cut and a few bruises… Look, I know you're good at patching me up, but how are you with super soldiers and assassins? Also, a really rich guy who might have a concussion?"

Steve could practically hear the sigh from the other end of the line. Matt finished the conversation. "Can you get to my apartment? I'd rather not drop them all at your place. And can you bring any extra blankets you have? Thanks. See you in twenty minutes."

He clicked the phone shut. "Everyone ready?" There were nods and moans but it was generally affirmative and a minute later, the Avengers were following Daredevil quietly across a series of rooftops, fire escapes, and through a memorable floor of a burnt out business, Tony helping a half-asleep Bruce. They arrived at a nondescript apartment building and took turns lowering themselves to a roof access door and into an apartment. Steve, who insisted on bringing up the rear, could see a little bit of tension drain out of Matt's shoulders as they entered the space.

Everyone waited at the bottom of the stairs until Matt was there, then followed him into the living space. "Lights by the door…" Natasha walked over and flipped the switch, filling the open space with dim light. "Sorry it's not much light, I don't usually turn them on. Plus, people say the billboard does a lot." He gestured out the large wall windows to where a huge glowing billboard sat.

Clint whistled. "This is a nice apartment, Murdock. How does a lawyer afford something like this?"

Matt grinned, crossing to the door and unlocking it. "He goes blind and then buys a corner apartment that nobody else wants because it has a huge glowing billboard that got put in during a wierd contract after the Avengers fought aliens that destroyed half the city."

Clint made a little noise that was probably agreement.

"Okay, everyone. Make yourself at home. Shower's through the bedroom, kitchen should be stocked. Claire will be here any minute with medical attention. I claim the bed because I have to get up and go to work in the morning, unlike all of you." He added a glare here for effect. "And I'll share with Tony if he wants because he has a concussion. If not, it's fair game." Matt paused. "And don't move the furniture."

He headed to the closet where he kept the Daredevil suit, pulling out the chest and unlatching it while he half listened to the Avengers exploring the apartment, Natasha having claimed the shower. Lifting off the top layer, he pulled off the (relatively clean) suit in pieces, starting with the cowl, and folded it into the box, leaving only the undersuit on. Matt cocked his head, hearing Claire coming, and abandoned the open chest to let her in.

The nurse shuffled through the door, laded with her medical bag and an armload of pillows and blankets from her apartment. "Hey." Matt greeted her, closing the door behind her and locking it. "Thanks for coming."

Claire dumped the pile of soft items on the couch and straightened up, whistling. "You weren't kidding," she said, looking at Tony, who was sprawled in one of the chairs, the armour standing in the corner. Clint had procured a compression bandage from somewhere and had wrapped it around his bleeding leg. Steve was sitting at the table, keeping pressure on his side. Matt was pretty much ignoring his own injury. Natasha clicked the shower off, releasing a load of steam and heat into the room as she opened the door. Bruce was half asleep on the couch but would probably get up in an hour after his power nap and eat half of Matt's kitchen bare.

"Nope." Matt shrugged. "Remember how I told you I had a part time hospital situation at my disposal now? Avenger Tower pretty much it's own medical floor. It was just too far away for us to easily get back and nobody's hurt too badly."

"Wow." Claire shook her head and apparently decided that it was best to just get down to business. "Who's first?"

"Tony." Steve called from across the room. Claire nodded and walked over to the billionaire, making him sit up and look at her so she could run a series of cognitive tests.

Bruce pulled himself off of the couch, walked over to where the pair was, and had a brief conversation with Claire that Matt ignored in favor of going into his bedroom. He found a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and threw them to Natasha, who was standing in the bathroom door wrapped in a (towel?) She took them with a quiet "thanks" and headed back into the bathroom, leaving Matt to grab a pair of running shorts and another t-shirt for Bruce and Clint, who didn't have clothing under their uniforms. He walked back out cautiously; who knew where everyone and their equipment was exactly? and set the clothing on the counter next to Clint, who was getting stitched up by Bruce.

"You get that from Claire?" Matt asked the scientist, locating his glasses on the counter and sliding them on.

"Yeah. It's a skill that comes in handy. We bonded over our superhero friend's mutual dislike for hospitals." Matt smirked at the response and walked around the kitchen island, carefully rummaging through the fridge and pulling out supplies for sandwiches, eggs, and bacon, never mind that it was past midnight. He started cooking, aware that Steve was watching him. As he finished, he would slide the plate of bacon or eggs across the table so it could be picked up by a starving Avenger. Bruce finished stitching up Clint and picked up a plate, attacking it ravenously. Matt carefully refilled it as he emptied the dish and handed another one to Natasha, who had left the bathroom to Tony and come out to greet Claire and eat.

The two women seemed to establish a mutual girl connection immediately, much to the mild concern of all the men.

By the time Matt ran out of eggs and bacon, Claire was halfway through fixing up Steve and told him to leave the kitchen and take his shirt off so she could look at his shoulder. Matt walked around the island and stopped; unsure of the location of things in his own house. He sighed and waited until Claire came over and offered an elbow.

She sat him on the couch and he stripped off his shirt, waiting patiently while she probed the sluggishly bleeding cut and cleaned it out, pulling the edges together with a series of butterfly bandages. Steve suddenly piped up. "Are the posters in Fogwell's gym for the same Jack Murdock as the jacket you have?"

"How many people named 'Battlin' Jack Murdock' do you know?" Matt asked, but there was only tiredness in his voice, no anger. "Am I clear to the chest?" Claire affirmed and Matt walked over, not bothering to put his shirt back on. He could feel Steve standing by the box but ignored him, running his fingers over the embroidery that spelled his father's name before slotting the layer back over his suit and closing the chest and the closet.

"My father." He answered Steve's unspoken question. "A boxer."

Something in his voice must have told Steve not ask anything further because the supersoldier didn't push. Matt stood, closing the closet and facing the room at large. He focused carefully for a moment, finding Claire's heartbeat amongst the Avengers' and walking carefully towards her. She had just finished packing up her kit, everyone properly on the mend. Matt reached out and touched the back of her hand for a moment. "I know I've said it before, but… thank you. Again." Claire stood, extending her own hand to touch his cheek for a moment.

"Don't worry about it, Matt. When else am I going to get to meet the Avengers?" He smiled, tracking her movements and walking with her to the door and unlocking it. "Try to stay out of trouble."

"I always do." Matt could almost hear her smile as she ducked out of the door and followed her footsteps down the hall and out of the building, fading as she hailed a taxi and drove away.

Matt turned, sighing as he tried to focus on the chaos that was his appartment. "I'm going to bed. Make yourself comfortable somewhere."

There was a general murmur of assent as Matt carefully walked through the apartment to the bedroom, flopping down and digging through the bedside table until he found a pair of sleep-friendly noise cancelling headphones. There were five people sleeping in his apartment; he would need them.

Somehow, despite the extra sounds, smells, and temperature variations of people getting ready to sleep (Tony in his bed, which was weird, Bruce on the couch. Natasha on the two chairs pushed together, Steve and Clint on the floor), Matt was able to fall asleep within fifteen minutes.

He was rudely awakened by his cell phone, turned all the way up. " _Foggy… Foggy… Foggy… Foggy…"_ Matt groaned, fumbling for the electronic on the bedside table. There was a soft noise behind him and he was instantly awake, listening to the noise of five sleeping people in various stages of not sleeping anymore because his phone was yelling.

Finally, he located the phone and picked up the call. "Foggy? What time is it?"

The connection hissed. "It's five thirty in the morning, sorry, but-"

The rest of the Avengers half listened from their sleeping places as Matt sorted through the conversation in bed. "Foggy, calm down. Why are you calling me at five thirty?" There was a pause. "What!? He's dead?" Matt was suddenly out of bed, still holding the phone but stumbling towards the bathroom. He set the phone on the counter, quickly washing his face and doing a two-minute shave. "But I thought we got all of Fisk's men out… so how did Marcus get killed in his cell? He shot _how many_ police?"

Steve, who was the most awake and needed the least sleep pulled himself out of the blankets on the floor and started the coffee pot; it sounded like Matt was going to need it. He could see Natasha out of the corner of his eyes, watching as the blind lawyer hurried around his room, dressing in his customary suit and tie. Matt hurried out of the room, tie hanging around his neck but not tied, still talking to Foggy. "Brett's okay, right? Did he give you the call? Damn, this is going to blow the whole case out of the water." He scooped up a bag and a small computer. "Wait, has anyone told... I'll tell her. We're the legal representatives." There was a loud thud and Steve looked up from the coffee pot to find Matt holding onto the back of the sofa, knuckles clenched. He had clearly just tripped on an invisible pile of blankets and barely caught himself. Silently, Natasha rose, moving items out of his way and nudging him towards the kitchen.

"No, Foggy, I'm fine. Just tripped on some stuff. Yes, I know I usually know where everything is, but due to a long series of events the Avengers may have spent the night and so there's extra blankets on the floor." He sighed. "I'll explain later. What's the address?" Matt listened as Foggy rattled off a string of numbers and a street, typing it into the braille reader he used for work. "Okay, I'll go to the Marcus' house and… tell her what happened. I'll try to be back to the office at nine, but I might stop to ask Father Lantom a few questions about funeral arrangements so that Susan doesn't have to do it. See you in a few hours. You too, bye." The blind lawyer ended the call, sliding the phone in his pocket and neatly tying his tie, impressing Steve. Sitting at the table, he rummaged through his bag quickly, apparently affirming that he had all he needed. He took a deep breath and ran his hands over his face, sighing deeply. For a moment, he wasn't Daredevil or Matt Murdock, lawyer extraordinaire. He was just a young man who had a long day ahead.

"When I went to law school, I never thought I'd have to start the morning by telling someone that their husband was shot and killed in his jail cell." Steve winced sympathetically, not that Matt could really see it, and slid him a cup of coffee, which Matt drank quickly, running his other hand through his hair. He carefully made his way back to the bedroom, stopping to brush his teeth and scooping up the red-tinted glasses that he usually wore, sliding them on. Picking up the white cane with his long fingers he turned to face the room.

Steve awake and drinking coffee. Natasha also awake and on her way to join Steve. Clint awake but still on the floor. Bruce and Tony dead to the world.

"I'm going. Try not to move anything and lock the door when you go. If you pile up Claire's stuff for me, I'll wash it and take it back to her."

"Good luck, Mr Murdock." He could hear the smirk in Natasha's voice.

Matt gave them a mock salute and headed out to face the (very early) day, cane tapping down the hall until he disappeared from sight and sound.

 **This came from the idea of Foggy calling Matt very early because something happened, only to find that the Avengers are camping on his friend's floor.**

 **If you have ideas, please feel free to send them to me!**


	3. Migraine

Bruce was on his way to the kitchen, hopefully to eat a full pan of meatloaf, when he saw Matt Murdock on the couch. The lawyer vigilante was curled up in a ball that looked almost painful and his hands were clamped over his ears clearly with as much force as he could muster, his face pressed into a pillow. His eyebrows (all Bruce could see of his face) were scrunched down. Bruce carefully took a couple steps toward the miserable huddle of young man. "Matt?"

Matt didn't really respond, just made a little sound that could almost be construed as a whimper, except that Matt never whimpered. "Not good," Bruce muttered to himself. "Matt? What's wrong?"

This time, Matt worked up enough energy to lift his face a little off the pillow and mumble in Bruce's general direction. "Foggy. On my phone." And he dropped back down, hands even more tightly over his ears.

It wasn't hard to work out what he meant and it only took the physicist a moment to locate Matt's phone, which had slid off the couch and landed just under the edge of the coffee table. He scooped it up and tapped it, dialing speed dial one "Foggy" when it popped up. "Matt! I know it's the weekend, but where the hell are you? Karen and I -"

"Mr Nelson. Uh, Foggy." Bruce interrupted.

"Woah, you're not Matt. Where is he and why do you have his phone?"

"Foggy, it's Bruce Banner. We just got back from a little spat just out of Manhattan an hour ago and now Matt's curled up on the couch with his hands over his ears and he won't talk to me." Bruce laid it out as fast as he could."

"Jesus. I'll be there in half an hour. How loud was it? The fight."

"Pretty loud," Bruce admitted.

"Did he get hit on the head or anything?"

Bruce thought for a moment. "I don't think so but I was… not me, so it's a little unclear. I'll ask the others."

"Okay, just try to keep it quiet until I get there and don't make it really smelly or anything."

"Okay. JARVIS will let you up when you come." Bruce hung up the phone and set it by Matt's head, moving towards the hallway and away from the other man. "JARVIS, connect me to the others, please? Quietly?"

There was a second of hesitation before the AI responded. " _You are now connected, Dr Banner."_

"Did anyone see Matt get hit on the head during the battle?"

"Bruce? What's wrong?" Natasha's voice filtered through fastest; she seemed to have a (very small) soft spot for the blind lawyer.

"He's up here on the assemble floor, hands over his ears and totally curled up on the couch. And he's not very responsive. He had me call Foggy and he's on his way here, but he wanted to know if Matt got hit or not."

"I didn't see anything," Steve said, "But I could have missed it."

"Neither did JARVIS and I," Tony added.

"But you know that the Devil would not have told us if he was indeed injured?" Thor rumbled. "He holds his wounds close to his heart."

There was a general hum of agreement; Matt did have a tendency to hide his injuries. "Okay. Thanks, guys. Foggy just wanted to know and I said I'd ask."

"Wait!" Steve called. "Should we come up?"

"You can if you want," Bruce said. "But you better be quiet."

A moment later, the elevators dinged open and Bruce had to fight a laugh; it was crammed with the entire Avenger Initiative, not including himself. Natasha let out a quiet breath at the lump on the couch that was Matt. Bruce went back to the couch, kneeling next to the lawyer. "Hey, Matt. I'm just gonna…" He reached out to run a hand through the lawyer's hair, looking for bleeding or bruises. But the moment his hand got within a few centimeters of Matt, the younger man flinched, letting out a small startled sound.

That almost scared Bruce more than the posture; it apparently hurt for them to be very close to Matt, he didn't hear or register or feel that Bruce's hand was getting close to him, or apparently that Bruce was there at all.

And so they sat without moving for twenty minutes or so until JARVIS quietly announced " _Mr Nelson is on his way up."_ A moment later, the elevator doors opened and Foggy rushed in, wearing a work suit and carrying a backpack. He flipped it around as he crossed the room, unzipping the biggest pocket and pulling out a pair of well-insulated headphones. There was a moment as he took in the scene; Bruce kneeling by the head of a curled up Matt, Avengers crammed silently into the kitchen space.

But then he was next to the couch and carefully reaching out. "Matty?" Foggy asked quietly. And somehow his voice must have gotten through when Bruce's didn't because Matt didn't flinch when the bigger man's fingers gently pushed Matt's hand's off of his ears and slid the headphones down over them. Steve could see Matt visibly relax a little at the further reduction of sound.

Foggy ran his hands through Matt's hair and they came out clean; no blood or swollen bumps. "Okay. Stark, we're going to need a bed with silk sheets. Matt, can you get up?"

Matt started to haul himself off the couch, but the moment he was on his feet, the lawyer swayed and Foggy had to duck under his arm to keep him from falling back onto the couch. " 'm fine."

Foggy managed not to look incredulous. "Fine, like the time in college you got pneumonia and passed out in your third to last Torts class and they had to call an ambulance and me because I was your medical contact? Or fine like the time when you got beaten up in an alley just before Christmas and I had to explain to my parents when we got there for holiday?"

"Told you I was sorry about that." Matt muttered belligerently. "A bunch of times."

Foggy smiled to mask his concern over Matt's slipping diction, waving Thor over to help him support the shaky man. They followed Steve out of the main living area and down the hall to a spare room where Tony and Natasha were quickly replacing the previous sheets and blankets with a silk set. "Here," Tony said as he and the spy pulled up the last blanket.

"Great. Can you bring the room temperature up?" Tony nodded and gestured to JARVIS while Thor and Foggy carefully set Matt on the edge of the bed, bending down to pull off his socks. "Candles. In my bag," he directed at Steve, who obeyed without question. There were indeed candles, half a dozen small jars of vanilla scented wax. The super soldier found the lighter buried in the bottom of the bag and started lighting them, the light scent wafting around the room.

As the room slowly started to warm up, Foggy stood and tapped Matt lightly on a shoulder to get his attention. Matt's eyes lifted and landed in his general direction, forehead still creased tightly. "I'm going to take off the headphones for a second so I can get your shirt off, okay?"

Matt nodded and closed his eyes again, letting Foggy pull off the noise canceling headphones. The entire team could see and hear his breathing quicken as the barrier between the outside noise and his overly sensitive ears vanished. Quickly, his best friend pulled off the t-shirt that Matt was wearing, both lawyers wincing as the two or three seemingly ever-present cuts and bruises on Matt's torso were revealed. Foggy said nothing, only handed Matt the headphones and carefully started to work off Matt's pants, leaving him only in his boxers. The vigilante was clearly past the point of embarrassment, using slightly trembling hands to slide the headphones back over his ears and bringing one palm down to scrub at his mouth and nose like a young child.

"Done." Foggy laid the sweatpants over a chair on top of the shirt. "Get in the bed." He reached out and guided one of Matt's hands over the edge of the bed, locating one of the pillows. Matt didn't even argue as Foggy nudged him back into the bed and pulled the blankets up.

"Are you going to take something? And don't give me the 'It'll only make me dizzy" crap because clearly it can't get much worse." Matt made yet another sound that was fairly uninterpretable, but Foggy clearly understood the intent and threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. But if I come back in an hour and you're still awake and doing the forehead scrunch thing-" he made a vague motion at Matt's forehead "-you're taking something."

Matt didn't argue, just closed his eyes. Foggy sighed and touched Matt's shoulder before scooping up his bag and walking out of the room, followed by the other Avengers.

He settled on the same couch that had held Matt fifteen minutes ago, pulling off the suit jacket he was wearing and laying it down with his backpack on the large coffee table. "So." Steve, who had disappeared ten minutes earlier, came out of the kitchen with a tray. He set it on the table and picked up one of the mugs to hand to Foggy. "Thanks." The lawyer took a sip of the drink, shoulders drooping and keeping his eyes on the hall door leading to where they had deposited his partner.

"So." Foggy repeated. "What happened?"

Bruce took a deep breath and headed off the story, describing their fairly noisy battle with the villain of the week just outside of the city, their return to the tower, and his discovery of Matt on the couch nearly an hour ago. When he finished, Foggy ran a hand over his face. "Yeah, it happens."

He drained the end of his coffee and emerged from the coffee cup to find the Avengers staring at him with various degrees of interest. "So why… what… the candles?" Tony Stark ( _Tony Stark!_ in Foggy's head) asked him.

"We use them a lot. Having one scent to focus on specifically makes it easier for him to block out the rest of the input. Same with the silk sheets; easier on his skin, less for him to feel, smooth. Even things like cotton are hard when you're overstimulated. Taste, nothing we can really do about it, or smell, short of a clothespin. But sound is usually the worst." He leaned back in the chair, running one hand through his long hair. "It's, uh, been happening since our college days. Did he tell you we went to undergrad and law school together?"

There was a round of head shaking. "Yeah, we were roommates. And even then, he would get migraines and whatever or some days would just be really bad. Even before I knew about the whole-" he made a hand gesture that was taken to mean "Daredevil" "-There's just so much sensory information for him to process and it gets overwhelming for him to try to sort it all out. Plus he doesn't like taking medication so that doesn't help."

Bruce seemed to be taking notes. "He doesn't like medication?"

Foggy shook his head. "No. He says they make him feel like he's underwater. And he relies too much on his other senses to compensate for the blindness to willingly let them be muted."

The physicist sighed. "Good to know."

Foggy stood. "Is there something to eat that's as organic as possible? Cause he can also taste chemicals and all that."

Steve led Foggy into the kitchen and started pulling items out of the cupboards at JARVIS' direction, Foggy examining each package as it appeared. He checked his watch; "I'll be right back, I'm just going to go…"

His footsteps echoed down the hall and the door to Matt's room clicked open. A few minutes passed but he came back, looking self-satisfied. "He's asleep. Thank God."

Just then, his cell phone beeped at him. "Crap." The lawyer rolled back down his sleeves, pulled back on his suit jacket, and neatly folded the collar. "I've got to go meet Landman and Zach about a lawsuit. Make sure he eats when he wakes up."

Foggy grabbed his backpack, moved Matt's cell phone and glasses from the floor to the coffee table, and headed for the elevator. "Foggy." Barton called. "Thanks for the visit." The other returned the grin and the sloppy salute.

"Anytime." He caught the elevator doors, preventing their complete close. "Also, remind Matt that we go to court tomorrow and I would like to not have to explain why my partner has black eyes or broken ribs or anything."

MDDM

Foggy was pleasantly surprised when, four hours later, he got a text message from an unknown number simply reading _Matt awake, much better. Bruce making him eat. -SR_

SR could only be Steve Rogers; not only was Matt good, he, Foggy Nelson, now had the cell phone number of an Avenger!

(He continued to be surprised for the next month or so as he got messages from various Avengers pertaining to the rooms they seemed to be setting up for Matt at the tower; clarification on the types of bedding, carpeting, scents for the bathroom…

He was amused when one of Stark's text messages mentioned that there would be a guest room for him as well. Since he was Matt's handler.)


	4. Chapter 4

Young Matthew Murdock ran his fingers over the lines of text he had just carefully scribbled over the page. He could read it, but then he knew what it said.

Chicken.

Flour.

Apples.

Beef.

Crackers.

Juice.

It would have to do; he could hear his father's footsteps at the door, the click of the key in the lock as Jack Murdock pushed his way into the house, laden with his bag of boxing equipment.

"Dad!" Matt fumbled with the edge of the table, standing and launching into his father's arms, still damp from his shower at the gym.

"Hey, kiddo. How'd the school work go?"

"Good. I finished early, so I wrote the shopping list." Jack smiled; Matt could hear it when he spoke.

"That's great, Matt. Ready to go?"

Matt nodded, picking up the cane he had left against the wall and taking his father's hand in his own. The lady who talked to him a little about how to use his cane said that he should let people lead him by holding onto their arm or elbow, but Matt liked holding his father's hand.

"Matty, I can't read the last thing on the list," his father admitted in his rough voice, the paper crinkling in his hand.

Matt took the list back, running his fingers over the page and trying to remember what he had written. "Juice," he finally decided, mostly based off of the J. "Sorry."

"No problem, Matty. Your handwriting's probably neater than mine is."

MDDM

"Hey."

"Hi."

Skye sat down next to Matt, kicking her dangling legs from the edge of the high park bench.

"I heard you got in trouble today." She nudged Matt with her elbow when he didn't immediately answer.

"Yeah."

"Clint told me that Sister Katherine was mad about your handwriting and you talked back to her."

"Yeah."

They sat for a moment, Matt's hands tightening and relaxing on the top of his cane, held vertical, Skye still swinging her feet.

"Oh well. I guess at some point, you'll type everything anyway."

And with that pearl of wisdom, Skye hopped off the bench, pulling Matt along after her and forcing a small smile out of the boy.

MDDM

"Yo, Matt?"

"Matt."

"MATT."

Matt rolled over and pulled off his headphones.

"Can I help you with something, Foggy?"

His roommate staggered against the doorframe. The smell of cheap college alcohol rolled off him in waves.

"I can't read your Tort notes."

"Foggy, why are you trying to read my notes? They're either in braille or typed online."

"'s 'cause I can't find mine so I was going to use yours but I can't read them."

"Foggy, you can't read braille."

"Yes I can."

Matt had to refrain from rolling his eyes.

"Go take a shower and let the alcohol work it's way out and then try to find your notes again."

"Fine. Fine. Be that way."

Matt waved Foggy out good-naturedly. His friend paused at the bathroom door. "I really can read braille. Just a little. Not much yet."

Matt stopped. "Yet?"

And he went back to listening to his textbook with a smile on his face.

MDDM

"Matt? I can't read your notes from the precinct meeting."

"Which notes?" Matt stood, crossing the room and finding the edge of Karen's desk with his fingers.

"The ones from this morning."

"Here?" Matt picked up the edge of the paper, running his fingers over the top line of pen indents. "Sorry, I had to take them in pen because my machine is getting updated."

He ran his fingertips over them again.

"I honestly don't know. Ask Foggy, he's usually pretty good at deciphering when I actually write things down. Or call Brett, he can fill you in on the details."

He tapped the desk, flashed a grin at Karen, who was giggling at his over the top shrug, and went back to his office.

MDDM

"Matt?"

"Matt, is something wrong?"

Matt leaned the cane against the wall near the elevator and set his bag down on the floor near it, mentally mapping the space. Tony, in an apparent state of agitation, leaning over the back of the armchair and talking at him. Clint lounging on the sofa. Bruce and Steve emerging from the kitchen holding bowls of popcorn.

"Um… no?" Matt responded. "Is there something going on I don't know about?"

"You left a note. You never leave notes."

Matt shrugged. "Usually there's someone around to tell that I'm leaving."

"Okay, but you know you could just tell JARVIS that you're going somewhere."

The lawyer shrugged again. "I have a tendency to forget JARVIS is there. No offense, JARVIS."

" _None taken, Mr Murdock."_

"You have heightened senses… but you forget that JARVIS… is it just because he's not tangible?" Bruce asked, a frown in his voice.

"Yeah. Can't smell, taste, feel, whatever. And he doesn't make ambient noise or anything. So it's easy to forget he's there compared to everyone else."

"Huh." Bruce inhaled like he wanted to continue, but Tony cut him off.

"Back to the topic at hand. Where did you go?"

"I thought the point was that I left a note."

"Well yeah, but the point is that I can't read it."

"Why? I'm the blind one here, last time I checked," Matt snarked at the billionaire.

"Very funny," Tony made a motion and Clint made a choking sound. "I just threw a piece of popcorn into Clint's open mouth, by the way." His chair creaked. "Anyway, your handwriting is terrible. Absolutely awful. It looks like-"

"- a child wrote it?" Matt cut him off quietly.

And suddenly the room was silent. Or as silent as it ever was.

"Shit, Matt, I didn't mean…"

"I know, Tony." The corner of Matt's mouth quirked up in a half smile. "My handwriting wasn't all that great as a nine year old. And it only got worse from there. Most of the time I don't even hand write anything, just type it all out. Or use braille, for anything Karen or Foggy don't need, even though Foggy knows a little."

"Sorry." Tony apologized again, much more subdued than usual.

Matt waved him off, smiling for real. "Are we watching a movie or what? And why don't I have any popcorn?"


End file.
